Harry Potter and the Dark Lord of the Sith

Chapter 24.

Harry carried Yoda on his back, heading back where he left R5-Q7 and his damaged fighter. They exited the forest and saw the ship standing at the edge of the cliff. CueSeven was standing there. He greeted them with a chirp. Then he and Artoo began an excited exchange of beeps.

Harry, Luke, and Yoda headed for the cliff. The place wasn't as misty as it was when Harry arrived, but they still couldn't see the bottom.

"Reach out with the Force," Yoda said. "Let it flow."

Harry sat down on the edge and stretched out. And then he SAW.

It was the strangest experience--as if he had left his body and roamed at will... In his mind, he plunged through the ravine. At first, he saw nothing but fog, but then details emerged. Tips of trees... branches... flying creatures. He continued down... further down. His vision was so complete that he registered not just sight and sound, but smell as well. He stopped descent above the surface of a large river. Despite the darkness, he knew where everything was. He proceeded, descending in his vision into the water and sinking. He saw water plants, fish, and other strange lifeforms. They ignored him, and he ignored them--although it was disquieting to have the fish swim through him. He reached the bottom and smiled. Right in front of him was the broken wing of his fighter.

Harry tried to lift the metal part. It was too heavy. Harry felt sweat emerge from the skin on his forehead, and he dropped the wing. It sank back to the bottom.

He remembered what master Yoda taught him. But this was how he lifted rocks and other small objects... and Yoda said that size didn't matter. But Harry still didn't think he could do it... it was too heavy and too far away.

Then it dawned on him, and he cursed himself for not realizing it earlier... much earlier, when Luke tried to raise his X-wing. Work together, you must, Yoda said.

"Luke," Harry called, "help me." He extended his hand and Luke gripped it. Contacting Luke's mind at the same time, he tried to give his friend the location of the wing. Luke sent him a mental nod. They jointly made an effort... and the wing rose through the water, through the air... up, up the entire depth of the canyon...

When Harry and Luke opened their eyes, the wing was lying next to Harry's starfighter, and the droids were scanning it with their tools. Harry breathed a sigh of relief. He looked at Yoda. For a brief moment, the Jedi master was smiling.

XXX

While the droids were working on Harry's X-wing, Luke and Harry practiced their lightsaber technique. Now that they could fight four remotes, Yoda gave them a new exercise. Harry stood about thirty feet from Luke. "You ready?" he called.

"Yeah." Luke raised and ignited his blade. Harry did the same. One remote hovered between them. Yoda nodded and motioned the seeker.

It fired one bolt at Harry and scooted out of the way. Harry deflected back at Luke. Luke blocked, sending the bolt back towards Harry. The two students hit the bolt back and forth, playing a Jedi version of tennis--except the objective was the opposite of tennis: their goal was to keep the rally going as long as they could. Yoda said that true Jedi masters could keep going at it for almost an hour, until, since each hit drained a little energy from the bolt, it disappeared entirely. Harry and Luke still didn't manage to exceed a minute.

The exercise, while fun, was exhausting. And Yoda wouldn't let them just stand where they were. They had to slowly approach each other, keeping up the rally. Yoda told them that Jedi could keep several bolts going between them at once. Harry could not imagine how that was possible.

"Damn!" he swore as he hit the laser blast too far for Luke to reach.

"Control," Yoda lectured. "You must learn control."

CueSeven rolled up to Harry and whistled. "You're done?" he asked. The droid beeped affirmatively. "Good. I'll see you back at the camp," he told the others. Luke nodded, put on the basket with Yoda in it, and headed into the forest. Harry lowered CueSeven into the fighter and got in the cockpit. He fired up the repulsors. The craft gently lifted off.

"It's working!" he shouted to himself. The droid gave a happy chirp.

Harry spent about an hour testing various systems. He flew in orbit around Dagobah, and even made a few short jumps to test the hyperdrive. Finally, before he headed back to Yoda's hut, he fired laser cannons several times. The fighter was in good working order. Pleased that at least that wouldn't present a problem, he headed to the camp.

XXXXXXXX

"They're breaking up," Ron said.

"Chewie, go back and stand by the manual release for the landing claw," Han ordered.

"I really don't see how that's going to help," Threepio complained. "Surrender is a perfectly acceptable alternative in extreme circumstances. The Empire may be gracious enough to--" Leia flipped a switch in the back of Threepio's head, turning the droid off.

"Thank you," Han said, relieved.

"What did you have in mind for your next move?" Leia asked

"Well, if they follow standard Imperial procedure, they'll dump their garbage before they go to light-speed, then we just float away."

"Like the rest of the garbage," Leia commented. "Then what?"

"Then we've got to find a safe port somewhere around here. Got any ideas?"

"No," Ron admitted.

Leia was more encouraging. "Where are we?" she asked.

"Anoat system," Han said.

"Anoat system. There's not much there." Leia murmured.

"No..." But then Han got more interested. "Well, wait... Lando?"

Leia looked at him skeptically. "Lando system?"

"Lando's not a system, he's a man. Lando Calrissian. He's a card player, gambler... scoundrel. You'd like him."

"Thanks..." Leia's sarcasm rang hollow.

"Bespin," Han said. "It's pretty far, but I think we can make it."

"A mining colony?" Leia glanced at the information.

"Yeah, Tibanna gas mines. Lando conned somebody out of it. We go back a long way, Lando and me."

"Is this another of your 'acquaintances' that always end up trying to kill us?" Ron demanded.

"No," Han defended himself. "He's got no love for the Empire, I can tell you that."

Chewbacca's growl came over at the intercom. Han nodded. "Here we go, Chewie. Stand by. Detach!"

The Falcon was left among the debris dumped by the Imperial warship. "Garbage..." Ron muttered to himself. "Who'd have believed it?"

"You have your moments," Leia kissed Han. "Not many, but you do have them."

Remembering Harry's advice, Ron excused himself to go see Chewbacca.

None of them noticed the other ship that remained in the system.